


Behind Their Faces

by invisoen



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Family Bonding, Fluff without Plot, Gift Giving, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, and they were BUSINESS PARTNERS!, oh my god they were business partners..., set in early 80s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28606185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisoen/pseuds/invisoen
Summary: A rare break from the business leads two men to handle other matters of business, Christmas between the Aftons and the Emilys. There, an accident reveals a new way the two can enjoy each other's company.
Relationships: William Afton | Dave Miller/Henry Emily
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	Behind Their Faces

**Author's Note:**

> it's still christmas somewhere!

Christmas. One of the few days Henry Emily didn’t work. One of the only days that William Afton took off. It came time for their families to come together, a charming mix of the Afton branches surrounding the two Emilys. They never seemed to bring any guests with them, but always enough food to feed their gatherings.

Every year was the same. Henry brought a couple of sides that he had made. Charlie would bake something for dessert, this year was snickerdoodles. The gifts were opened at seven, after dinner and after the extended family left, and then the kids would occupy themselves with some sort of holiday activity. And like expected, Charlie was guiding Elizabeth’s hand as she dripped icing down a gingerbread roof.

He didn’t see Michael. Henry then remembered he gave him that walkman. He definitely  _ wouldn’t _ be seeing that boy all night.

And where was…?

Henry almost forgot about William’s last child, who was decorating the gingerbread house with crushed candy canes.

The house was quiet. Normal for Henry, abnormal for his old friend and his three kids. He wasn’t much of a cheery man around holidays. If Henry were honest, not a lighthearted man overall. It was always more apparent surrounded by the lifted spirits of others. He found his friend leaning against the fridge in the kitchen, rolling and unrolling the sleeves of that festive sweater he swore every year he hated to wear.

“What’s got you down?” he asked in a light voice. Henry didn’t expect it to be too serious.

The words popped William out of a trance, mumbling, “Down…? Ah, what?” When Henry repeated his question, only then did he get a meaningful answer. Though it wasn’t much help, being, “I’m fine, Henry. Don’t worry about it.”

Henry chuckled, though as usual, it’s strained as his mind debated: Was this Afton serious or not? God, he could never tell.

“Right. Okay…” Henry dug in his coat pocket, holding out his palm to show a watch, vintage-looking yet in good condition. “Here, um, have a merry Christmas.”

William stood up straight, looking down at Henry’s hands. He narrowed his eyes and muttered, “Where’d you get this from?” And before Henry could show any signs of hurt or confusion, he naturally followed it up with, “Not that I… Not that I don’t  _ like  _ it. It’s a really nice gift.”

“I got it a long time ago. I just decided to fix it up,” Henry said, his thumb brushing over one of the metal dials on the side, “I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what this extra dial does, but I kept it. It’s nice to fiddle with.”

“Oh, Henry…” William said quietly. There was apprehension in his voice, perhaps thinking back on what he had decided on giving to Henry. After a short pause, he reached for the watch, putting it on his wrist and smiling a bit. “You fixed it up, huh? I’m not going to find anything if I look behind the watch face, am I?”

“Not that I remember…” Henry trailed off. There was. There was a folded up bunch of paper that William was eventually going to read, hopefully far, far away from where Henry was.

But as if Henry’s face gave it away, William let a more relaxed smile come to his face, saying, “All right, whatever you say.”

That look was wiped off by something Henry couldn’t see. His daughter carrying William’s little girl on her shoulders, holding a bunch of leaves over the two men. William could see the glints of red between the green before Charlie could even yell, “Mistletoe!”

Henry looked to the side, seeing the two girls before his eyes went up to the aforementioned mistletoe hanging between him and William. He parted his mouth in surprise and soft bouts of laughter left him. Then William joined, less genuinely with his staccato bursts. “You got us, didn’t you?” Henry said, eyes drifting away from everyone.

“Oh, but too bad,” William joined in, pointing at his watch, “It’s far past everyone’s bedtime. We’ll get to it in the morning.”

Elizabeth huffed and pouted. Charlie rolled her eyes. But they went to Elizabeth’s room easily, only mildly annoyed at being thwarted. Henry’s eyes finally came back to William, if only to comment, “The watch isn’t set. I don’t even think it’s nine yet.”

“I know,” William deviously smiled.

He wasn’t above deception when it came to settling down his kids. Henry considered himself better than that though, even a bit irritated that their gingerbread house would be left unfinished for the night, and that the dining room would grow silent and bare. He came here to see the Afton family, after all.

Henry glanced back to the hallway, making sure the girls had gone before he muttered, “You know it’s actually bad luck to ignore mistletoe?”

“You don’t believe in that shit,” William said. Henry held the deadpan look, though he was dying to look away and back down. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” And Henry almost regretted treading into this situation, until the unthinkable happened.

William closed his eyes and sighed. His full face was pink from embarrassment. Not red from exasperation, as Henry expected a flatout denial. “Fine, okay,” was not expected. “If you really insist,” were  _ dangerous  _ words.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against Henry’s. The bare minimum of a kiss, but it had widened the man’s eyes and nearly stopped both of their hearts.

William opened his eyes after pulling away. A smirk grew, a signal that he had successfully gotten Henry back for that attempt at deception. Henry was a horrible liar, after all. It always showed in his face.

“Will you… open up the watch when I leave tomorrow?” Henry asked, nearly silent.

“Is it some sort of confession?” William guessed with a tilt of his head.

God  _ damn  _ him. Was he really such an open book? “It may be,” he still said, with enough vagueness to barely continue their little game.

William didn’t think on the answer, leaning in close and muttering, “Then I feel the same.” They kissed again, not sure who initiated this one, but whoever did made sure it was short and sweet. And with the warm buzz trailing over Henry’s shoulders, he almost doesn’t hear another voice.

“Dad?” that youngest child of William interrupted. That child who was young enough to not understand the significance of anything that had happened, but was definitely old enough to blab to his sister and Henry’s daughter.

Henry then decided he needed to pay more attention to that one, for the sake of saving himself from future embarrassing moments.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this oneshot! if you enjoyed it, leave a kudos or a comment :) i hope it uplifted someone's day


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